The present invention pertains to automotive visors and particularly to a visor with an integrated light.
There exists a wide variety of vehicle illumination systems for providing map reading and courtesy illumination of the interior of a vehicle. An early visor design which includes a center mount which is somewhat large and bulky light and a separate switch such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,684 issued Jun. 9, 1953, to V. J. Dillon.
Frequently, visors include map reading lamps which perform the dual function of providing illumination for a vanity mirror and that of a map reading lamp. U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,241 issued Oct. 7, 1980, to Marous, discloses such a visor.
Although such visors provide adequate illumination for use as maplamps, they tend to provide either too much illumination, as is the case of the Dillon patent, which can be distracting to the driver of the vehicle or the illumination is somewhat compromised between providing facial illumination for use of a vanity mirror and lap illumination for reading items such as a map. Accordingly, there remains a need for directable illumination which can be achieved by providing illumination on a visor and one which provides an optimal positioning and intensity of illumination for use as a courtesy light or directable for use as a maplamp or other directable illumination as desired without interfering with the vision of the driver.